Government's fresh warning to WhatsApp due to increasing fake news and rumours resulting in deadly consequences

NEW DELHI: On Friday fresh curbs announced on its India service, that WhatsApp the instant messenger, has been facing increasing censure from the government regarding the spread of fake news and rumours and their deadly consequences, including limiting simultaneous message-forwarding to just five users at a go.

Under pressure after rumours and fake news spread via its app led to a spate of horrific lynchings, WhatsApp said it was launching a test to limit message-forwarding on the app. In addition, it said, it would “remove the quick forward button next to media messages”.

“We believe that these changes — which we’ll continue to evaluate — will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app,” the company said in a statement.

On Thursday, the government had issued a fresh warning to the company, saying it had to play a more rigid role in curbing fake news. The government warned the company that failure to contain fake news made the messaging platform an “abettor" of the crime and this could lead to “consequent legal action”.

“It has been conveyed to them in unmistakable terms that it is a very serious issue which deserves a more sensitive response,” the information technology ministry had said in the latest warning.

The company, though, is yet to file a specific response to the government’s new warning. WhatsApp, which had added a feature to let people forward a message to multiple chats at once a few years ago, had earlier this month launched a “forward label” to identify messages which are not original and have been forwarded.

More than 20 people have been killed by mobs in the past two months across the country after being accused of kidnapping children and other crimes in viral messages circulated on WhatsApp.

“In India, where people forward more messages, photos, and videos than any other country in the world, we will also test a lower limit of five chats at once and we’ll remove the quick forward button next to media messages,” it said. Earlier, it had announced to launch features to help users identify messages that had been forwarded and then issued full-page advertisements containing tips on how to spot misinformation.

“We built WhatsApp as a private messaging app — a simple, secure, and reliable way to communicate with friends and family. And as we’ve added new features, we’ve been careful to try and keep that feeling of intimacy, which people say they love, we are deeply committed to your safety and privacy which is why WhatsApp is end-to end encrypted, and we’ll continue to improve our app with features like this one,” the company’s statement said.